Since Triple H stepped away from the ring and more into the front office of WWE, the company has seen a pretty significant shift in how they present their product. You only need to look at NXT to see how different a promotion run by Triple H is compared to one by Vince McMahon. NXT is all about telling great stories in the ring, while the main roster is still all about characters and storylines. It’s that reason that Triple H took over 205 Live and why NXT is considered by many to be the better product, as Triple H has his ear to the crowd and is listening to what they want. He also has his ear to the ground and can see good talent on the indie scene or in Japan, and isn’t afraid to move on them and add them to the WWE Universe.

Over the years since he has taken over hiring talent, a significant portion of good talent has come into the WWE, either straight to the main roster or through NXT. These talents have definitely changed the company for good. But there are also some signings Triple H probably wishes he could have a second chance at and not put pen to paper. They either haven’t worked out, caused issues, or just didn’t live up to their billing. Lucky for the King of Kings, he seems to be striking more gold than coal, and he has filled NXT up with some of the best wrestlers in the world. He’s also had his hand in building some of today’s biggest stars who are not champions on the main roster.

18 Best: Alexa Bliss

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WWE’s Goddess, Alexa Bliss, was a former fitness model before signing her WWE contract. She didn’t get the same level of success in NXT like Sasha Banks, Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Bayley did, but when Little Miss Bliss got to the main roster, she turned plenty of heads.

She became the first woman in the company to hold both the Smackdown and RAW women’s championships, having held the latter for 223 days.

That is the longest reign by far in the title’s history. She didn’t come from a family of wrestlers or have any background in wrestling before Triple H signed her, but he is probably happy today that he did, as Bliss is one of the truest heels in the women’s division who doesn’t need a championship anymore to show how good she is.

17 Worst: Enzo Amore

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Triple H gave Enzo Amore a chance and he did pretty well with it, as the team of Big Cass and Enzo were extremely over with the crowd. Enzo was the mouthpiece, while Big Cass was the muscle. Even after they went their own ways, Enzo found himself as the main eventer in the cruiserweight division, making 205 Live relevant, as he was the most established character. But then in January, Enzo ran into some serious personal problems, the likes of which the WWE has a zero-tolerance policy for and fired him within days. Triple H will want to forget this signing ever happened so as not to put any bad associations to the WWE brand.

16 Best: Aleister Black

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Has anyone had a better first year in NXT than Aleister Black? His feud with Velveteen Dream won feud of the year, he NXT breakout star of the year and basically the best all-around guy in NXT last year. And to think, he basically had to start his own company in the Netherlands because there was nowhere to train.

He is the NXT Champion and brings something to the table that no one else on the roster does.

It’s cool to love Black because he’s just such a different character. He isn’t your typical good guy, isn’t a bad guy, he’s the anti-culture guy to cheer for who wrestles such a different style and has such a different look that he’ll be a mainstay with the WWE for a long time.

15 Worst: Finn Balor

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Finn Balor is a very talented wrestler, there is no question about that. There is a reason why the WWE put the NXT Championship on him, and why they made him the first Universal Champion, just weeks after getting called up from NXT. And who knows what would have happened had he not got injured, as all directions were pointing to Balor becoming the next face of the WWE. Then all of that went away, his booking since returning has been terrible and he hasn’t been given the same opportunities he had when he first got to the WWE.

This isn’t the Finn Balor Triple H signed away from New Japan Pro Wrestling, and it will take a lot to get him back on that path.

WWE doesn’t seem to have any idea how to use him properly, and he has been relegated to basically nothing more than a cool entrance.

14 Best: Andrade Almas

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For years the WWE had been looking for a Mexican star, especially after they lost Rey Mysterio. For a while, that was Alberto Del Dio and a short time, Sin Cara, but they never got over like Mysterio did. Now it looks like Triple H may have just signed the next great Mexican star, as Andrade “Cien” Almas is the entire package, especially when he is with his business partner Zelina Vega.

He put on a five-star match with Johnny Gargano at NXT Takeover: Philadelphia, defending the NXT Champion he had won last year.

His recent match with Aleister Black showed he is capable of wrestling against anyone and putting on a great show. Triple H and the WWE will be loving their next Mexican star when he gets to the main roster, especially when they run shows south of the border.

13 Worst: Dana Brooke

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Dana Brooke was a body fitness competitor, much like Alexa Bliss, however, she hasn’t got anywhere near the same fame as Bliss has, and is showing that Triple H isn’t hitting lightning in a bottle twice by signing two similar women around the same time. Dana was the sidekick to Emma for a while in NXT and then became the sidekick for Charlotte Flair, taking the beatings for the Queen when called upon. But since leaving Charlotte, Brooke hasn’t been much more than a jobber in the women’s division, and lately, her attachment to Titus Worldwide is doing her no favours, as she hardly gets in the ring anymore against the women, but follows Titus O’Neil and Apollo to the ring as their statistician.

12 Best: Pete Dunne

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Pete Dunne is one of the youngest members of the roster, but he is also one of the most experienced, having started to wrestler in his teens, traveling around Europe to make a name for himself. And then he was signed to WWE and appeared in their first United Kingdom Championship tournament, losing to Tyler Bate in the final. But that wouldn’t be the end of the Bruiserweight, as at NXT Takeover: Chicago, Dunne would win the UK Championship over Bate, in what was named match of the year in the WWE. Not bad for a couple of young 20-year-olds. Now Dunne is turning into a regular on the NXT roster and should be up on Triple H’s redeveloped 205 Live show to help take it to the next level as he is one of the best wrestlers in the company.

11 Worst: Mojo Rawley

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With NXT in place, Triple H decided to open up tryouts to former professional athletes from other sports to see if they could make the transition into professional wrestling. Mojo Rawley was one of those athletes, having not quite made his mark in the NFL, he looked at the WWE as the place to shine. The problem is, Rawley just comes off as a typical jock and doesn’t really have any redeeming qualities, other than his friendships with professional football players, such as Rob Gronkowski, who helped him with the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 33. Since then, he has floundered on Smackdown Live, and has little to no direction under his current gimmick and was clearly a miss for Triple H.

10 Best: Johnny Gargano

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There may be no one hotter in the company than Johnny Gargano. Johnny Wrestling has put on two masterpiece performances at the last two NXT Takeover pay per views that Triple H must be salivating at the opportunity to get Johnny up to the main roster. He could easily be the next big babyface in the company, as the crowd is totally behind him and he has the confidence in the ring to go out and wrestle two, back-to-back five-star matches.

He is simply that good and perhaps one of the best signings by Triple and Company as of late.

And when you consider he hasn’t even held a singles title yet, his run for any championship is going to be a storybook ending for sure.

9 Worst: Aiden English

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Aiden English has primarily been a jobber in the WWE, as he bounced around in FCW and the early days on NXT trading tag partners until he found success with Simon Goch in the team known as The Vaudevillains. They even won the NXT Tag Team Championships before getting called up to the main roster, but once there, their old-school, black and white style gimmick didn’t get over with the fans and shortly after being called up, Goch was released from the company. That left English by himself and while he has found some success with his opera singing, mostly because of Rusev Day, he hasn’t found much success in WWE and could always be put on the short list of people ready to be released from the company when it’s time to make cuts.

8 Best: Adam Cole

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For heels, there may be no one better in the company than Adam Cole, who just won the NXT North American Championship in a five-star ladder match featuring five other top superstars in NXT. Since coming to the WWE, Adam Cole has been involved in some of the biggest matches, and with the Undisputed Era, has basically taken over the developmental brand on the WWE, winning the tag team titles as well. Adam Cole is exactly what the WWE main roster needs right now, and once he gets there, Triple H will continue to sing high praise for him, as he’s a signing you can get ready to print money on, especially if he continues the road he is on and putting up quality matches.

7 Worst: Jason Jordan

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Jason Jordan would have been on the best signing list by Triple H had they kept him with American Alpha and partner Chad Gable. But ever since they broke him up with his partner and moved him to RAW, and gave him the ridiculous angle of being Kurt Angle’s son, he has quickly moved to the worst signing list, as this couldn’t have been Triple H’s plan when he first signed the athletic superstar. Jordan just comes off as whiny on camera and the fans can’t get behind him. They don’t boo him because he is a heel, it’s pure X-Pac heat, and it will be a tough road to get back to where he should, even after putting in impressive performances against some of the best on RAW.

6 Best: Ronda Rousey

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There were plenty of doubters that Ronda Rousey could actually make the switch from UFC and Mixed Martial Arts to the world of professional wrestling and the WWE, but then, WrestleMania 34 happened, and Rousey was part of what many say is the match of the night with Kurt Angle against Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. She clearly isn’t after a quick payday.

While her mic work still has plenty of room for improvement, Triple H must be smiling at this signing, even if she put him through a table.

Rousey is a big name and if all things continue on, she will be part of the first ever women’s match to main event WrestleMania, and after her performance, it would be very much believable.

5 Worst: Hideo Itami

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Hideo Itami, known as KENTA in Japan, came to NXT with plenty of fanfare, however, they didn’t keep his KENTA name, and he wasn’t given many high profile matches or feuds to start, as he teamed with Finn Balor briefly and then took on Tyler Breeze. He did get a shot at the NXT Championship against Bobby Roode at NXT Takeover: Chicago, but he came up short to the glorious one. He then took on Aleister Black in his final match before getting called up to the main roster and 205 Live, where so far, he hasn’t been given that much of a chance in the cruiserweight division and is now in a tag team on a show in the midst of a reboot with no tag team titles as of yet.

4 Best: Samoa Joe

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Samoa Joe was the first person to win the NXT Championship twice. Originally, he was brought in to be a mainstay of NXT, as the WWE wasn’t considering bringing him up to the main roster but wanted a stable group of wrestlers in the system to help build it up. But Samoa Joe isn’t a talent you leave in NXT, as he is one of the fierce competitors on the roster, one that isn’t afraid to get in the ring with the likes of Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman or Brock Lesnar, but can still have a very competitive match with the likes of Finn Balor, AJ Styles and other smaller workers. His versatility makes him a perfect Triple H signing, as he can be put in plenty of situations and be totally believable.

3 Worst: Shinsuke Nakamura

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First let’s just say, we are talking WWE Shinsuke Nakamura, not the NXT version that came into the company with an incredible match with Sami Zayn. But instead, we are talking about WWE’s Rockstar, The Artist, who has been so horribly booked over the course of his first year on the main roster that even his Royal Rumble victory couldn’t at least make Triple H rethink that it was a wrong hire. Let’s remember, Nakamura is an amazing talent and could easily be the top guy in the company, but not if WWE is going to book him like this. He is on the worst list not because of anything he has done, but because of what WWE fails to do with him.

2 Best: AJ Styles

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It took AJ Styles nearly two decades to make it back to the WWE, but he finally did after being TNA Wrestling’s top guy for years, and even the New Japan top guy for the two years he was in the company. AJ Styles is considered by many to be the best wrestler in the world, and so, of course, he has to be No. 1 on any list of Triple H signings, as Styles has helped carry the Smackdown brand for nearly two years since the show went live, truly making it the house that AJ Styles built. In his second run as WWE Champion, he can work with anyone and make them look good, which isn’t something anyone can say. Whether a match with Brock Lesnar or Jinder Mahal, AJ Styles brings out the best in everyone.

1 Best: Velveteen Dream

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There be no better poster child for what NXT and the performance center can do than The Velveteen Dream. The young, 22-year-old has only been wrestling for four years, but already has the rivalry of the year and a five-star match under his belt, and is constantly one of the most over characters in the WWE Universe today. He started with NXT back in the Tough Enough series days but finished ninth overall, despite being a heavy favourite to win. He would wrestle under his real name in NXT after getting a contract, even getting a shot at NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura, but then went away and was repackaged as Velveteen Dream, a Prince-like character that should be on the main roster in no time. Considering his lack of indie wrestling, this was a critical signing for Triple H to show NXT can develop from the ground up.